Competitive labyrinth game board



Oct. 10, 1950 1'. A. TORMEY 2,525,738

coMETITIvE LABYRINTH GAME BOARD Filed April 9, 1947 l Fil 9 wll "|11 'lll 'HU-ln ll l :i Ey' 'i INVENTR.

Patented Oct. 10, 1950 UNITED STATES .PATENT OFFICE rllhomas A. Ellormey, Woodside, N. Y. application April 9, 1947, Serial N o. 740,280

This invention relates to a toy or game and particularly to an improvement in that class of toys or games in which appropriately designed and constructed figures or objects are caused to move over plan surfaces by bringing them under the inuence of magnetic attraction.

One object of this invention is to provide a toy or game which will be conductive to relaxation oi the players and at the same time will be highly amusing, entertaining and educational and will afford an opportunity for the development and use of a high degree of skill in playing.

Another object is to provide a game apparatus that is simple in construction and not expensive to manufacture.

Still another object is to provide not only an entertaining, relaxing and educating game which is larg'ely a game of skill, but also requires a reasonable amount of mental effort and involves an element of chance which adds to the fascinations of the game.

A further object is to provide a game apparatus having a normally horizontal board or playing surface and to provide means for moving one or more objects or iigures along the board in predetermined manner by magnetic means.

It is yet another object to provide one or more handles, each carrying a magnet for moving the objects or gures and to be handled by one player.

With these and other objects which will become apparent, the present invention will be more clearly understood in the following detailed specii'lcation in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the game apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation along the lines 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation along the lines .ll- 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows in enlarged scale an elevational View of the magnet carrying pole;

Fig. 5 is a plan View of the pole at reduced scale;

Fig. 6 is an elevational view of one ligure; and

Fig, 7 is an elevational view of another figure.

Referring now to the drawing and particularly to Figs. 1 to 3, the game apparatus comprises a board l, disposed preferably in horizontal position when being used. The board l is arranged in a housing or frame 2 and is located between the top and the bottom of the frame 2. The frame is shown by example in Fig. 1 of rectangular shape, though it can be designed of any polygonal, circular or elliptic shape.

1 claim. (o1. 27s- 126) A number of regularly or irregularly arranged vertical guiding walls 3 are provided on the board l which serve as guide path for one or more figures or objects 4, 5, depending upon the purpose of the apparatus for which it is used, namely as game apparatus or as an educational toy.

In the given example one ligure presents a cat 4 and the other gure presents a mouse 5.

Preferably all side walls 6 of the frame 2 are equipped with horizontally extending slots T each of which is adapted to receive a handle 8 on which a `magnet 9 is mounted.

As stated above, the figures shown as example, to be used in the game, are a cat 4 and a mouse 5, though any other kind can be used, as for instance, a thief and a policeman, or a number of horses or the like.

The gures 4 and 5 are mounted on a magnet lil and Il, respectively, or on plates of magnetic material which are attracted by the magnet 9 oi the handle 8.

In carrying out the game by using a cat 4 and a mouse 5, the cat 4 is positioned in one corner of the board I and the mouse 5 in the other corner. The cat 4 has the task to move towards the mouse 5 and block its way, whereas the mouse is supposed to reach the opposite corner where the cat 4 started from without interference by the cat 4, both the cat 4 and the mouse 5 moving along the pathways set up by the guide walls 3. Preferably an opening l2 is provided in the cornerV of the board to receive the mouse 5 upon undisturbed arrival in that corner of the board. Two players, each operating a handle move the cat 4 and the mouse 5, respectively, by magnetic force exerted from the magnet 9 of each handle in cooperation with the bases Il] and Il cf the respective figures 4 and 5, which bases may be magnets or of magnetic material as soft iron.

Although the given example is described with two players, it is to .be understood that any number of players depending on the number of sidewalls, each having a horizontal slot, canbe provided.

'Ihe magnets 9 as well as the bases lll and l I, when formed also as magnets, may be permanent or electro-magnets.

While I have described one embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that this embodiment is given by way of example only and not in limitation of the scope of the present invention which is determined by the claim.

I claim:

In a game apparatus, a rigid playing board, a plurality of walls disposed in diierent directions 3 in predetermined manner extending upwardly from said board and forming a plurality of irregular pathways, at least two game figures disposed oppositely each other on the board at the start of the game, each of said game gures being of narrower width than that of said pathways, closed pathways disposed at the starting points for said game iigures, thereby forcing the latter to move through said rst mentioned pathways to reach opposite sections of the board, all said 10 rst mentioned pathways being continuous eX- cept those at the starting points, at least the bottom portion of each of said game figures being of magnetizable material, said game gures moving freely about the board along the pathways formed by said walls back and forth so that each game figure may move in a direction opposite to that of the other game ligure from its own starting point to opposite sections without interfering with the travel of said other gure.

THOMAS A. TORMEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are 0f record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 414,986 Motter Nov. 12, 1889 1,101,980 Williams l- June 30, 1914 1,635,020 Wilkins July 5, 1927 1,858,020 Linke May 10, 1932 1,918,892 Beatty July 18, 1933 1,988,071 Byrn Jan. 15, 1935 2,263,115 Winter Nov. 18, 194.1 

